In Blood and Courage
by Riha Hyesthae
Summary: It's been twelve years since the team began their roles as Paladins of Voltron. They've all grown, matured, and changed over the years. Alone in space, they've become family to each other. Soon, there may be a new member to add to the Voltron team. Hunk/Pidge, Shiro/Allura, Lance/random alien girl, Keith/work, Coran/mustache. Female pronouns. Much fluff.
1. Cub

**Author's Note:** This is set about twelve Earth years after Season 1, meaning all the younger Paladins are in their mid-twenties, and Shiro (BECAUSE HE SURVIVES AND RETURNS DAMMIT) is in his thirties. /Disclaimer.

* * *

It wasn't unusual to find Pidge in the lab, nor was it out of the ordinary to see her sitting perfectly still and staring into space. The shocked expression, however, was new.

"Pidge?" Allura asked, deliberately stepping into the Green Paladin's field of vision. "Pidge, is something the matter?"

Pidge started and shook off her trance. Allura waited patiently while the other woman reoriented. Clearly, there was something on her mind.

"Remember back when we threw the party for the Arturans and you said I could confide in you if I needed to?" Pidge began. "That I could talk to you about anything and it would just be between us girls?"

"Yes," Allura replied, wondering if she should be worried.

Pidge glanced at the implements laid out on the table: a small beaker full of yellowish liquid and an array of various strips of test paper on a tray, each strip stained a different color at one end.

"...I think I might be pregnant."

Allura blinked, feeling her eyebrows lift. "Pregnant?" she echoed.

"Well, it'd explain why my body's gone haywire," Pidge began. "Why even Hunk's cooking makes me nauseous and why I've been throwing up all the time. My boobs hurt, my skin's too tight, and I feel like I'm crying over the stupidest stuff. I tried to run a test myself but it's hard to do with non-earth elements."

"We can find out for sure," Allura offered. "Come this way."

Bemused, Pidge followed her over to the holographic scanner and stood on the exam platform.

"Now this might not be a perfect scan," Allura reminded her, booting up the equipment. "But Altean physiology isn't _that_ far off from humans."

"Except for the part where you can shape shift," Pidge commented, smiling.

Allura smiled back. "Yes, well, our insides don't change. We do reproduce sexually, give birth to live young, and nurse them and all of that. How long do humans gestate?"

"Nine months, give or take."

"Then you're well on your way."

"Wait, _what?!_ " Pidge blinked and shook her head at the brief flash of light as Allura saved the image.

"See for yourself."

Stepping down off the platform, Pidge watched as Allura fiddled with the projection. Reaching into the hologram's stomach, she opened her fingers, expanding the image and enlarging the area.

"There's your little bundle of joy," she said, pointing at a small knot of tissue nestled in the thick velvet of endometrium. Pidge felt light-headed. The embryo was already implanted, it wasn't even in her fallopian tube anymore. Allura enlarged the image even further, bringing up something that looked like a more adorable iteration of a tadpole.

"So that's what for a human?" Allura asked. "Six weeks? Eight?"

"I don't know," Pidge confessed, weakly. "I guess it makes sense I'm not showing yet if the kid's only the size of a grape."

"Pidge, are you alright?" the princess asked, worry crossing her face.

"Fine," Pidge said hollowly. "Can you turn it off?"

The image flickered and vanished.

"Come sit down," Allura said, gently taking Pidge's arm and leading her to a chair.

"Here, lean forward," she instructed, lightly pushing the smaller woman's shoulders forward until her head was dangling between her knees. Despite being upside-down, Pidge felt the world settle a bit. Allura was making soft circles on her back with one hand, smoothing away the panic still fluttering in her stomach.

"I'm sorry," Allura apologized. "I've shocked you. I didn't mean to."

"It's not your fault," Pidge mumbled. "I'm the one who got knocked up." Giving a frustrated sigh, she covered her head with her arms. "Oh man…" she groaned. "What am I gonna do? I can _not_ be pregnant right now!"

"Why not?" Allura wanted to know. "I thought you and Hunk wanted children?"

"Well yeah, but not right _now!_ " Pidge protested, jerking upright and nearly passing out. "That was going to happen later! _Much_ later! Like after I turned thirty, or once we retired from being Paladins! I'm assuming people aren't Paladins for life, at least not in an active-duty sense. Maybe as reserves or diplomats. It's like professional sports or the military or something and once you hit like thirty or forty your body just can't keep up anymore so you transfer to Surveillance or Communications. I mean I guess I'd be okay so long as I didn't have to do any hand-to-hand fighting, but eventually I'm not even gonna fit in my uniform! I can't save the universe _and_ be a mom! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!"

" _PIDGE!_ You're rambling."

"I'm sorry," Pidge quavered and burst into tears. Without a word, Allura pulled her close and held her.

"I'm sorry, Pidge," she said softly. "If this truly isn't what you want...it's still early. You could terminate-"

"No!" Pidge cut her off. "No I… I don't want to kill it. I just… I'm kind of freaking out right now." Removing her glasses, she wiped at her eyes. "Stupid hormones."

"Why don't you talk to Hunk?" Allura suggested. "I'm sure he'll be ecstatic."

"Yeah," Pidge agreed miserably. "But that still leaves you short a Paladin for like a year."

"Well," Allura began, "why don't we trade places? You've redesigned all the castle's defences anyway, and I'm a pretty good pilot. That way we can keep on saving the universe and nobody has to go on hiatus. That is, if you think Jade will accept me?"

Pidge threw her arms around Allura in a crushing hug. "Of _course_ she will! Allura thank you! This'll be perfect!"

"Glad I could help," Allura said, hugging back. "Shall I forward the image to your computer?"

"Please," Pidge said. "Hunk will want to see it. He's gonna flip. We'll probably wait to tell the guys though, just in case something happens."

Allura looked amused. "Do you think Hunk can keep a secret that long?"

Pidge smiled mysteriously. "Oh you'd be surprised at the secrets he can keep."

* * *

"Remember the...slumber party?" Pidge asked.

Hunk stopped short, blushing briefly at the memory. All of them had spent the night on the ice planet crowded into a small cave, huddling together for warmth. She and Hunk had huddled a little closer than the others. It was the last time they'd had a chance to- as Hunk put it- get up close and personal. Before and after their impromptu camp out, they'd each been on separate missions that had only recently been completed.

"Yeah…" he drawled. "I still can't believe we got away with that. Bless Lance and his deviated septum. Long may he build log cabins in Canada."

"Indeed. Unless everyone else is too polite to say anything, or maybe they've rationalized it into a bad dream?" Pidge suggested. That made Hunk chuckle nervously.

"Maybe. Why d'you ask?"

Pidge had gone over this repeatedly in her head, but still had no idea how to break the news to him gracefully.

"Well," she began, pulling up the image on her laptop and sliding it over so he could see. "Allura figured out why I've been feeling so gross." She watched, barely breathing, as Hunk squinted at the little 3D polywog. "I'm pregnant."

Hunk just stared, eyes wide as dinner plates. Pidge shifted nervously as he continued to look at the screen. Admittedly it was quite a bombshell to drop on him, but she wished he'd say something.

"Seriously?" he asked, voice hushed as he pointed at the screen. "That's the baby? _Our_ baby?"

"Yep," Pidge shrugged, still unable to gauge her husband's mood. "Congratulations, you're gonna be a dad."

She watched his expression soften from shock to tenderness, saw him swallow hard and his eyes mist over.

"Aw Pidge," he murmured, drawing her into a hug. The embrace was careful, delicate, as if he was afraid he might break her. It made her think of their first awkward kiss and the weeks it had taken him to remember that she was not made of spun glass.

"That's so great! This is awesome!" The hug tightened a little and he kissed her forehead.

"So you're okay with it?" she asked, relaxing into his arms.

"Okay?" he echoed. "I'm amazing!" A pause. "Are _you_ okay?"

Pidge's held breath escaped in a sigh and she snuggled into Hunk's warm girth, a smile on her face. "I am now."


	2. Heat

"Hunk…" Pidge protested under her breath.

"Sorry," her husband apologized. "I haven't seen you in like a month."

"I know, but seriously?" she hissed. "We're _surrounded!_ "

Hunk's chagrined silence was all the answer she got. Pressed up against her back, it was all too easy to tell how much he'd missed her. Hunk being Hunk, she didn't _think_ he was doing it on purpose. She didn't think. But it wasn't helping her own resolve. If she was honest, she was desperate for him too, but they _couldn't_. Not here, not now. Certainly not with the other Paladins huddled in their own sleeping bags in the same small space.

"I missed you," Hunk murmured, nuzzling her neck. Heat blossomed from the contact, rushing over her skin and making her gasp.

"I missed you too," she replied breathlessly, craning her neck to kiss him. Off to their left, Lance gave a fantastic snore. Both of them froze, watching in the darkness as Lance shifted in his sleep, turning his back to them, and snored on. Unable to help herself, Pidge giggled softly.

"If we're not careful, he'll bring the cave down on us."

"I know, right?" Hunk replied, sotto voiced. "S'why I always wore earplugs back at the garrison. He wasn't bad as roomates go, but he could seriously wake the dead with snoring like that."

"Think everyone else came prepared?" Pidge asked slyly as Hunk nestled his face in her neck. That made him pause.

"Pidge, you serious?"

"I'm not saying this is a good idea," she hissed, fumbling with the zipper of her sleeping bag. "I am, however, saying I'm cold and I really miss my husband."

"You think we can zip these things together?" he asked, carefully climbing out of his own bedroll and into the cold air of the ice cavern.

"They're the same model, they should."

It wasn't easy to do in the dark, but they managed to zip the green and yellow sleeping bags together; one on top, one on the bottom. Pidge, already shivering, immediately snuggled into Hunk's warm bulk.

"Much better," he murmured, holding her close. Despite the bedrolls being opened to their full width, they were really only slightly wider than a twin bed. There wasn't truly enough room for two people, especially if one of those people was Hunk. Pidge therefore tucked her back against his chest, smiling as his thick arms went around her. Except that still left them with one small problem.

"Sorry," Hunk apologized, feeling her shift. "It'll go away. Eventually."

"Who says I want it to?" she asked, edging back up against him.

Hunk inhaled sharply, swallowing a groan. "Pidge that's not funny, you _know_ I get noisy…"

Lance let out another herculean snore and rolled closer to Keith. They were laid out like tatami mats on the floor of the ice cavern, each Paladin's feet pointed toward the other's head. So long as they didn't make too much noise…

"Not that noisy," she said. Although he grunted a fair bit, and could be vocal, Hunk wasn't what she would call 'loud'. "I trust you."

"I don't trust you at all," he mumbled into her neck. "Always gettin' me into trouble."

"You don't need my help to get into trouble," she murmured back.

After that, well, it was a lot warmer.

* * *

Being a Paladin of Voltron meant little to no time to develop much of a social life. The five of them, Allura, and Coran were together constantly, almost exclusively. Now that they had a few star systems on their side, there was slightly less pressure, marginally less urgency for them to deal with each and every crisis. There were others now to help them keep watch. They didn't have to do it all alone. That didn't mean they didn't end up still doing 99% of keeping the Galra off everyone's case as well as dealing with any other major problems that cropped up.

Maybe it was inevitable that there would be relationships amongst the team. Pidge and Hunk had always spent a lot of time together. As the two engineers of the group, it made sense for them to work together. Hunk was the only one who could anticipate her rambling lines of logic, and no one seemed to want to help him cook except for her. Their transition from friends to something more had been so gradual, so organic, that even Shiro had been slow to pick up on it, though not as slow as Pidge and Hunk had been themselves.

Lance had teasingly grilled them about their first kiss. It hadn't actually happened yet, not the way he was thinking, but an instance came to mind just the same:

"That time I made peanut butter cookies- or the space equivalent thereof," Hunk remembered. "Pidge said they were amazing, and then she kissed my cheek. She left crumbs."

"What? No way, that's not it!" Pidge exclaimed. "About a quintek earlier you were having issues with the balmara crystal interface and I helped you figure it out. You said it had been driving you insane and kissed the top of my head."

Lance had looked decidedly disappointed.

They'd never formally announced that they were a couple, and their engagement had been quiet and brief. Hunk had used one of the bolts from the machine they'd been working on, since he didn't have a proper ring. Pidge had helped him cast a more comfortable version for each of them, keeping the octagonal shape, but making the width of the metal bands much thinner. It hadn't been easy to find someone to officiate for them, but in the end they'd managed it.

Then a Galra fleet had crashed the ceremony and they'd had to put their honeymoon on hold. If ever they managed to corner Zarkon, Pidge was going to include a wedding gift in her list of demands. Right after she punched him in the face. Hunk would give her a boost.

To be fair, Shiro and Allura had set the example. No one had really taken any notice of Pidge and Hunk's relationship because it was so low key that it barely existed. No one had paid much attention to Shiro and Allura's because for the longest time, it hadn't been there- and then it was. Shiro might be Voltron's head, but Allura was its heart. Without her, none of them would have become Paladins. It was evident each had a lot of respect for the other. However, even without a planet, Allura was still a princess. There had been other Altean survivors besides herself and Coran.

Although Shiro would have been a good match on a number of levels, Allura had at first tried to be a leader above all else and held herself to a higher standard, intending to save her hand for a future political alliance. Shiro had been just as bad, insisting at first that his only duty was to the team, and to the safety of the universe. Everyone- Coran included- had not been impressed with their misplaced chivalry. Fortunately, it hadn't lasted long.

Despite the layer of political complications, Allura and Shiro had eventually gotten off their behinds and embarked on a formal courtship. Prince Lotor might have been a good match. He was half-Altean, so he and Allura could have theoretically had children- the very thought made everyone shudder- but no one trusted him any farther than they could throw him. (Lance and Hunk had wanted to test this theory, but Shiro said 'no'.) Rather than constantly have to invent reasons to tell him to get lost, Allura and Shiro tied the knot in a ceremony that was as grand and romantic as Pidge and Hunk's had been understated and sweet.

Lance would probably be the next in line unless Keith surprised everyone. It had taken a while, but Lance had finally found himself a steady girlfriend. Niihla was surprisingly sensible, which ran somewhat contrary to what Pidge would have expected from Lance. She was humanoid, but not what most humans would have thought of in terms of conventional beauty. More importantly, she was intelligent, and kind, and devoted to Lance without fawning all over him. Leave it to Lance to charm the hearts (she had two) of an alien. Then again, weren't they, a handful of humans, the real aliens?

Keith insisted he was married to his work, which was true enough. However, it didn't seem to bother him. Keith was one of those rare individuals who could function on his own with only his thoughts for company and be perfectly content. Maybe he'd find somebody one day, but if he didn't, it was nice to know that even by himself, he was happy.

They all had people they loved and missed, families and friends back on earth that were difficult to keep in touch with. It wasn't a lack of technology so much as the surprisingly mundane and age-old problems of time differences and schedules. That and transmitting too often might give their position away. Normally trouble found them soon enough on its own, there was no need to invite it.

Finding her dad and Matt had brought ease to her heart and peace to her mind. Pidge had found her family. However, that family had not been limited to her father and brother. While looking for blood ties, she'd found six other people: Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Allura, and Coran. They were her family as much as the one she'd been born into. As much as she'd wanted to go home, she couldn't leave the team, couldn't abandon her space brothers, space sister, space dad, and space uncle. They needed her, and not just because she was the left arm of Voltron. Dad and Matt had understood. There were times when blood ties were not the deciding factor, and this was one of them. So they had returned to Earth, and Pidge had stayed behind. With her family.


	3. Number Six

Pidge felt like crap. To be fair, she'd felt like crap for weeks. Technically, she had at least two weeks- give or take, pregnancy was not an exact science- before lift off. That did not change the fact that she was officially, formally, _over_ being pregnant. She was so tired she felt like she could have slept for a year and still not have been rested. Every joint ached, and her spine felt as if it was going to give out regardless of the fact that she was lying down. The only thing that didn't seem to be in open revolt against her- for this particular five minutes- was the tiny person curled up inside her. Despite her best efforts to motivate the baby into making an appearance- spicy food, a low altitude test flight in her green lion Jade, a hot bath, enthusiastic sex- nothing had worked.

Lying in bed, using Hunk as a body pillow, Pidge tried to resign herself to being pregnant forever. Exhaustion was only just beginning to prevail over discomfort when the alarm blared. Rolling away, Hunk groaned.

"Friggin Zarkon," he grumbled sleepily, helping her up. "I swear he does this on purpose."

"Most likely," Pidge agreed, groping for her glasses and then clothes. Her back protested as she wrestled with her leggings.

"Ready, Hon?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, shoving her feet into her boots. "Let's go."

* * *

The others, predictably, were waiting on the bridge. It still hurt a little to see everyone in their uniforms. Although Allura had been piloting the green lion for the last six months, she hadn't ever asked to borrow Pidge's uniform, instead continuing to wear her own pink and purple jumpsuit. It was the little things like that, the subtle gestures that made Allura such a good leader. Shiro might be Voltron's head, but no one- himself included- was under any illusions as to who was really running the show. Still, looking at all of them hit her in a sensitive place. It wasn't that she was jealous so much, but it hurt to know she would have to stay behind.

It was harder than usual to concentrate on Allura's briefing, Pidge's back was killing her. Normally Pidge was the one to pick out the fine details, to ask the smart questions, but this time most of the speech sounded like gibberish. Blah blah blah Zarkon. Blah blah blah Galra. Blah blah blah Voltron. Pidge tried to focus, but she was just so sore and tired.

"You gonna be okay?" Hunk asked, standing with her in front of his drop chute.

"I'm fine," she told him smiling, because really, what was he going to do even if she wasn't? Not go? The team needed him more than she did, and distracting him with worry wasn't going to help anyone. "Go save the universe."

"I love you," he told her, leaning in for a kiss.

"Love you too," Pidge replied, kissing in return. "Come back safe."

"I will," Hunk promised and dropped down the chute.

Pidge gasped at a sudden stab of pain followed by a rush of wetness. She looked down at the puddle she'd left, nonplussed, as the castle alarm went off again.

"Are you kidding me?!" she demanded. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she waddled as quickly as she could back to the bridge. She was probably fine. It could potentially take hours for her to fully dilate, before she went into labor. Hunk and the others would be back long before anything serious went down. She hoped.

* * *

Coran was waiting at the controls, already setting up the defenses. The brief walk from the drop chute back to the bridge had seemed twice as long as usual, and Pidge was sweating and out of breath when she took her place between the control pedestals.

"Alright, Number Five?" Coran asked, smiling at her over his shoulder. He paused at her red face and labored breaths. "Something wrong?"

"No," Pidge huffed, finally beginning to catch her breath and offering him a rueful grin. "Just horribly pregnant." She got the feeling he didn't completely believe her, but there were more important things to worry about. Like the Galra fleet that had appeared out of nowhere. There was a time when Pidge would have been worried, would have been terrified. As it was, she was merely annoyed. A dozen years of combatting these bozos had taught her a few things. First, that the Galra were not invincible and two, brute strength was no match for keen intellect. Also, the good guys always won. Because they had to.

Ten minutes later, Pidge was seriously reconsidering her earlier statement to Coran. She felt decidedly ill, both her back and belly cramping painfully. Inside her, she felt something shift, as if a stone had been dropped into the bowl of her pelvis. Quiznak! Not now!

"No," she grumbled under her breath, "this is _not_ a good time."

"Say something?" Coran asked, not looking up from the control panel. Pidge was saved from inventing an excuse as the particle barrier alarm began to buzz. Apparently Zarkon had decided to try a double attack- assaulting the Castle as well as Voltron. Well if he thought he was just going to ring the doorbell and be let in, he had another thing coming. Pidge grabbed at the control pedestals for support as the Castle shuddered under a fresh barrage. A second alarm went off.

"That's the generator," Pidge called out, recognizing the flashing light on Coran's dashboard. "The connection's been severed, you'll need to reset it manually. I'll take too long to get down there. Go get it back online. I'll manage things here."

"Are you sure?" Coran asked, giving her a dubious look.

"Just GO!" Pidge snapped, wincing as the ship lurched. Oh god, she was going to be sick. She staggered a second time as true pain hit her from behind, her back muscles clenching down of their own accord. Muting her comm, she muttered curses as she climbed out of her leggings and underwear. At least the tunic she had on went down to her knees.

"Pidge, we're taking heavy fire but we've got it pinned down," Shiro's voice spoke up. "What about you?"

"We're fine," she lied, flipping the volume back on. "Taking fire but minimal damage. They're not getting in that easy."

"Do you need cover?"

"No, I got this."

"Where's Coran?"

"In the generator room. The last assault knocked out one of the turbines but it's not a big deal. We'll have it back online in a second." She hit mute again as another spasm of pain wracked her body and she cried out, unable to stop herself.

"What's up with you comm?" Shiro asked. "You keep cutting in and out."

"It's nothing," she said raggedly. "Probably just interference."

"Pidge are you okay?" Hunk asked urgently.

"Fine," she gasped. "I'm okay. Keep your head in the game!"

"She's right," Shiro agreed, "let's go!"

"Oh man," Pidge panted, struggling not to panic. "Oh man oh man oh man…" She could feel her body tensing for another contraction. Contraction her ass. This was more than just muscle fibre extending and scrunching, this was like having some sort of antique cast iron machine pumping away inside her guts. Her body had taken on a mind of its own, forcing her to her knees, compelling her to push.

Even though she knew Coran was practically on the other side of the castle, she tried to bite back her pain, to keep herself from screaming. It wasn't easy to keep her eyes on the battle, to return fire on the Galra ships, to keep the shields in place, to try to track the team's comments and banter even as her insides tried to kill her.

"...opy?"

Pidge tried to shake off the latest wave of agony, to pull herself up off the floor at least a little bit. That was Hunk's voice, and she recognized the raw panic in it.

"Pidge do you copy?" he demanded.

"I copy," she said, voice breathless but steady. "Sorry, having issues with my comm."

"We've got the ground threat under control," Shiro said. "We're bringing the fight to you."

"Okay," she agreed, inhaling sharply at a fresh wave of pain. Flicking her microphone off, she gave in and screamed. This was it. Hurriedly, Pidge tore off her sweater and threw it on the floor. There was no use fighting the pain, so she gave herself up to it.

Tears streamed from her eyes, staining her glasses with salt. There was no way she would survive this. She was going to die. Her body was going to tear itself apart. There was no way the baby would fit through. Even if it did, it would rip her in two and she would bleed to death, her guts spilling out onto the floor. They would both die. There was no way. No way…

The ship lurched and shuddered and Pidge cried out as she fell forward onto hands and knees. It took her a moment to realize the alarms had gone silent, the only sound in her ears was that of her own labored breaths. Opening her eyes brought her face-to-face with a small wrinkled creature. It was the baby. She'd delivered the baby.

" _LIEUTENANT KATHARINE PIDGE HOLT GUNDERSON GARRETT!_ "

Pidge jerked upright to see Coran staring at her, mustache bristling in shock. He stepped toward her just as another blast shook the ship.

"Return fire!" she gasped. "I got this."

"Errr...right!" he agreed and leaned over her to manipulate the controls. Crouched between Coran's long legs, Pidge gathered the baby in her sweater. She wasn't crying. Swiping a finger through the baby's mouth made her squirm, and massaging her chest brought a thin wail.

"What the heck was that?"

It was Hunk's voice over the intercom.

"Is that what I think it is?!"

"Yeah," Pidge replied weakly, leaning up against one of the pedestals. "It's a girl."

Screams and cheers echoed so loudly that Pidge cringed against the sound.

" _I'M A DAD!_ " Hunk crowed. " _HOLY CROW GUYS I'M A DAD!_ "

"We know Hunk, that's awesome but could you please stop screaming?" Keith put in. "We still gotta take these guys down."

"Oh. Right. Yeah," Hunk said, refocusing. "Don't you worry, brithday girl! Daddy's coming!"

Pidge smiled despite her insides still banging away like an old-fashioned diesel engine. The explosions and banter washed over her in waves of unacknowledged white noise. The baby had stopped crying and was watching the laser light and blinking buttons with rapt attention.

"Sorry it's not more peaceful," Pidge apologized to her offspring. "I promise it's not always like this. If your dad and your uncles and I have anything to say about it...one day it won't ever be like this again."

"Well said," Coran commented, taking a moment to smile down at the two of them.

Pidge did her best to smile back, but a decided headache had set in because clearly she was not yet in _enough_ pain. She winced and shuddered as something tore, landing with a squishy "plop" between her knees.

"Holy quiznak!" Coran exclaimed, looking green.

"Hey watch your language!" Pidge snapped. "It's just the placenta, calm down."

Cringing, Coran turned his attention back to the final minutes of the battle. Pidge tried to pay attention to the last bits of the fight, to her daughter, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open. At least the machinery of her muscles was finally winding down, leaving a new and different sort of pain derived from exhaustion rather than exertion. She was ending the day as she had begun it: tired and sore.

The distant sound of the team's banter drifted down to her from the ether. She started to full wakefulness, realizing she must have been- as Hunk put it- running screensaver. It took Hunk's cry of joy to pull her completely into the here and now, and she smiled for him as he hurried over.

"There's my girls!" he exclaimed dropping to his knees and kissing Pidge long and deep. Too tired to speak, Pidge tilted the baby toward him so he could see her face.

"Oh my gosh…" Hunk breathed, eyes welling up. "Pidge, she's beautiful. Just like her mom." Carefully, he put his arms around them both and hugged them close. "Thank you."

"It was a collaboration," Pidge reminded him, stretching to kiss his cheek. "You helped."

"Yeah, but you did the hard part."

"That she did," Coran added. "All by herself no less."

"Wait what?" Hunk gaped. "Did you give birth _in the middle of the battle?_ "

"More or less," Pidge shrugged.

"Coran, where the heck were you?!"

Coran frowned, annoyed. "I was down in the generator room! I was only gone for uh… um…."

"A couple ticks," Pidge said, finding the whole situation funnier than it probably was. "My water broke after you jumped into the hanger chute."

"Why didn't you _tell_ someone?" Hunk demanded.

"I...thought I had time," Pidge said, sounding a bit bleary in her own ears. "Who would I have told?"

Hunk sputtered, anger, shock, fear, joy, and a hundred other emotions flashing across his broad face in rapid succession.

"Katie was just doing what she thought was best for the team," Shiro spoke up. Coming over, he crouched down and rested a hand on her shoulder. "She put our needs above her own. It was a crazy, stupid thing to do," he said by way of a reprimand, but his fingers tightened in a gentle squeeze. "I'm glad you're okay. Congratulations."

"Man," Lance began, his smile almost as wide as Hunk's. "I thought we were pretty bad-ass the way we beat up those Galra, but I think that prize officially goes to Pidge. I mean, delivering a baby _by yourself?_ That is hard core!"

Pidge tried to laugh but it was too much effort. She got as far as a smile, but didn't manage anything more. About then, Hunk noticed the mess on the floor.

"Whoa, that is a _lot_ of blood. I mean, I know giving birth involves a lot of like, bodily fluids and stuff, but that seems like kind of a lot of blood to me. Does that look like a lot of blood to you?" he asked Allura. "How much is too much?"

"Well I think a lot of that is placenta," Allura said, making a face at the puddle of blood and tissue. "I'm not sure how much is normal for a human, but Pidge does look pale, which I would expect after an ordeal like that."

"I'll go get a gurney from the med unit," Keith volunteered.

"Would you bring one of the surgical kits as well?" Allura asked. "We'll still need to cut the umbilical cord."

Keith blanched. "Er, right," he said, hurrying from the room.

It didn't take long for Keith to return with the requested items. He and the other men averted their eyes, studiously looking anywhere but at Pidge as Allura tied off the umbilical cord.

"Would you care to do the honors?" she asked, extending the scissors to Hunk.

"What me?" he blinked, taken aback. Not so long ago he would have blanched and gagged at the suggestion, but to Pidge's lasting surprise, he smiled. "Sure!"

"I guess it's true," Pidge observed with a small laugh as Hunk snipped carefully.

"What is?" he asked, looking up.

"Having a baby changes everything."

Hunk grinned. "You know it."

Heedless of the muck on the floor, he stooped and gathered her in his arms, effortlessly lifting her onto the floating bed. Pulling the blankets up, he tenderly tucked her in.

"There. Let's get you and lil' Number Six down to the med unit."

"Number Six, huh?" Pigde repeated, amused, and snuggled the baby close.

"What was it you were going with for a girl?" Coran asked. "Victoria? Veronica? It was something with a 'V'..."

"Verity," Hunk reminded him. "It means 'truth'."

"It's a perfect name," Shiro agreed. "Get some rest, all of you."

"Can we make a quick detour first?" Pidge asked. Despite being exhausted and filthy, she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until she'd taken care of one last detail.

"Where to?" Hunk asked.

"The hanger."

"Surely that can wait," Allura said. "It'd be best to look both you and little Verity over before we do anything else."

"It can't wait," Pidge insisted. "I want her to meet her family. _All_ of her family."

"Okay," Hunk agreed, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. "One quick side-trip." Waving to the others, he turned and pushed his wife and daughter down the hall, Allura in tow.

With Pidge gone, the puddle of gore in the middle of the dais was suddenly a lot more obvious. Keith and Shiro exchanged glances and made themselves scarce, leaving Lance and Coran to deal with it.

"Right," Coran began, pointing upward for emphasis. "I'll fetch the absorbent powder from the HAZMAT kit. It was designed for oil, so I imagine it'll suck this up in less than a tick!"

"I'll...um...get a mop," Lance said, edging away from the mess.

* * *

At her mistress' approach the green lion rose from stasis and her default sitting position. Tail waving curiously back and forth, she stepped forward and leaned down, as if to scent this new development.

"Hey girl," Pidge said fondly, extending one hand to touch the vast metal nose. "Look, I had a kitten. Her name's Verity. Verity, this is Jade, mommy's lion."

Crouching low, Jade gave the baby the gentlest of nudges with her nose. Pidge would not have thought that a machine so big- even a graceful, sentient one like Jade- could be so delicate. Gathering her paws under her, Jade lay down, her body and tail forming a wide circle around her humans. She let out a deep, yet quiet, mechanical rumble, a noise that Pidge had only heard a handful of times. The green lion was purring.

"Yeah," Pidge agreed, "me too."


End file.
